Page 42 of Trapped (Sheppard & Sons Investigations #6)
Ashley
I ’d just finished wiping snot on my shirt when the door opened.
“You ever heard of knocking?”
Al laughed. “Why would I do that?”
“Because you called this my room.” The chain rattled on the floor when I brought my hands to my hips.
“You’re sexy when you’re mad. Has Nathan seen this side of you?”
The predatory look in his eyes as they roamed up and down my body made me shudder.
Stepping back, I sat down on the cot and crossed my legs.
I held the chain in my free hand. I didn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell of winning a fight against him, but if he tried to touch me, I’d go down fighting.
The heavy chain could do some damage.
His eyes lingered on my hands. “Do you really think that’ll work?”
“What?” I asked, practically batting my eyelashes to seem innocent.
“Using the chain to attack me?”
“Do I look that dumb?”
He laughed. “You look that desperate.”
I was. “I’m not. It’s dragging on my wrist, and it hurts.” I held up the chain. “This helps.”
“Whatever you have to tell yourself.”
When I didn’t respond, he continued. “Your boyfriend should be here soon.”
“He’s not my boyfriend.” I lied.
“Fine, your lover.”
“Never slept with him.” Sadly, that wasn’t a lie. And wouldn’t it just piss me off if I died before I could?
“Seriously? The way you look at each other, I figured you were fucking each other’s brains out.”
“How romantic.” I rolled my eyes. “How’d you connect me to Nathan?”
“That was easy. I followed him when he moved here. He’s spent half his time at your place. It doesn’t take a genius.”
“Why’d you wait so long?”
“In general, or since he moved to your podunk town?”
“Dealer’s choice.” I hated how high my voice sounded.
“It took me months to recover and rebuild. When I finally went looking for him, he was a fucking lump on his friend’s couch.” He chuckled. “There’s no fun in killing a man who looks like he’d greet Death like an old friend, so I watched and waited.”
That didn’t sound like the Nathan I knew.
“The next thing I knew, he’d packed up and moved to your crappy little town. I thought about just killing him, but changed my mind when I saw him staring at you like a lovesick puppy. It's more fun to fuck with him.”
Al liked hearing himself talk.
“It was fun playing cat and mouse, but I never expected the mouse to be so stupid.”
“He’s not stupid.”
“And yet he missed all the clues I sent.”
“I thought they were from my asshole ex who couldn’t take no for an answer.”
“You didn’t really think that loser would send black roses or break into your house, did you?”
No. “He could’ve hired some random psychopath. You can’t be the only one out there.”
He laughed. “I’m not a psychopath. I’m a businessman who’s willing to do whatever it takes to get what I want.”
“How’d you know I was at the doctor’s office?” Nathan was paranoid about us having a tail, so there was no way he’d followed us.
“I employ some exceptionally gifted people. One of them hacked the GPS on your phone. I knew your location every minute of every day.” He smirked.
He probably hacked Nathan’s too.
“He’ll find you,” I said with a smug smile.
“I’m counting on it.” His tone erased my smile and made my skin crawl. “And I’m sure he’ll bring your PI friends along to help.”
“Don’t guys like you usually tell the good guy to come alone?” I asked.
“They never listen, so I didn’t bother.”
“You’d hurt innocent people, people you’ve never met, just to get to Nathan?”
He smiled, and I’d swear his eyes sparkled at the idea of killing them all. “Yes.”
I shivered despite the warm room.
God, it’s me again. Please don’t let this lunatic kill my friends. They’re good people, and they don’t deserve it.
“Don’t worry, my gorgeous little worm, it’ll all be over soon.”
What the fuck was with the nickname? “Worm?”
I thought, duh, just as he said, “It’s what you use as bait to catch a fish.”